Fireball over Toledo. | Youtube: Meteors

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterMallorca-International05/04/2021 08:06
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A fireball flew over the centre of Spain at 72,000 kilometres an hour on at 23:05 on April 1, according to SMART Project Researcher José María Madiedo from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia.

The phenomenon occurred when a rock entered the Earth's atmosphere at around 97,000 kilometres per hour over the western part of the Province of Toledo.

Because of its high speed, the abrupt friction with the air caused the rock to become incandescent when it was at a height of about 92 kilometres, generating a bright ball of fire that could be seen more than 500 kilometres away.

It travelled in a northwesterly direction and burned out at an altitude of about 43 kilometres above the Toledo town of Oropesa, after traveling a total distance of about 64 kilometres in the atmosphere.

The fireball was registered by members of the SMART project at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia, or IAA-CSIC, by the Astronomical Observatories in Seville, La Hita in Toledo, Calar Alto in Almería, La Sagra in Granada and in Madrid.

SMART project detectors operate within the framework of the Southwest European Fireball and Meteor Network, or SWEMN, which continuously monitors the sky in order to record and study the impact of rocks and other objects from the Solar System.